Ancient genomes reveal the integration of genetically distinct groups within the early medieval Avar society in the Vienna Basin, Austria.
Research that brought together expertise from multiple disciplines has revealed that genes and culture do not necessarily align. The latest findings from the European Research Council’s HistoGenes project stem from a genetic analysis of burial sites dating to the Avar period in the 8th century CE. The Avars, who arrived in the 6th century from the East Asian steppes, settled in East Central Europe alongside a diverse population.
Despite the wealth of archaeological evidence, significant questions remained. Were those buried in these sites descendants of the Avar conquerors, members of the local population integrated into Avar society, or a genetic mixture of both groups as many scholars had hypothesized? The genetic study of two major sites south of Vienna—500 graves in Mödling and nearly 150 in Leobersdorf—yielded surprising results.
When the researchers looked at the ancient DNA extracted from the human remains from these neighboring sites, they were very surprised. While the population of Leobersdorf was mostly of East Asian origin, those buried in Mödling had ancestry associated with European populations. “The genetic difference between these groups was very clear and consistent for most individuals at the sites,” says Ke Wang, a geneticist and one of the lead authors of the study.
Before genetic analysis, no large difference between the sites had been observed. The archaeological remains of the two communities and their way of life were very similar. “The cultural integration apparently worked despite major genetic differences, and these people were obviously regarded as Avars,” says Walter Pohl from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, a historian and one of the senior authors of the study.
Peaceful coexistence
The historical records agree with the evidence from anthropology and archaeology that this was one of the most peaceful times in the history of the Vienna Basin, in spite of the reputation of the Avars as warriors. “We find no battle injuries on the skeletons and there are hardly any signs of deficiencies,” explains Doris Pany-Kucera, anthropologist at the Natural History Museum Vienna and one of the lead authors of the study. Also, weapons were only occasionally placed in the graves.
Thanks to the sampling strategy and highly sensitive genetic analysis, it was possible to discover a high number of relatives among the deceased.
“The large number of genetic relationships between the individuals allowed us to reconstruct contemporary six-generation-long pedigrees at each site,” says Zuzana Hofmanová from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, a geneticist and one of the senior lead authors of the study.
Only exceptionally, the individuals had no biological connection to anybody else at their burial ground. Yet, the researchers found no consanguineous relationships even between distant relatives. Interestingly, they were able to determine that almost none of the mothers had local ancestors: they must therefore have come from other regions and other communities. However, there were hardly any genetic connections between Mödling and Leobersdorf.
Both communities followed a similar social practice in choosing partners from certain other communities, through which their different ancestry was preserved: the women that became mothers in Leobersdorf apparently came from communities that also descended from East Asia (possibly from the center of the Avar realm), while in Mödling they were of European descent. Yet they did not differ in status or wealth. “Status symbols such as belt fittings depicting griffins, and their culture and customs were the same. Most likely both considered themselves Avars,” says Bendeguz Tobias, an archeologist and one of the lead authors of the study.
Such large studies that systematically investigate burial grounds are still rare in the field. “Mödling burial ground is one of the largest ever analyzed genetically, and such results hold a lot of potential for future research in various disciplines,” says Johannes Krause, director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and one of the senior authors of the study.
Reference: “Ancient DNA reveals reproductive barrier despite shared Avar-period culture” by Ke Wang, Bendeguz Tobias, Doris Pany-Kucera, Margit Berner, Sabine Eggers, Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone, Denisa Zlámalová, Joscha Gretzinger, Pavlína Ingrová, Adam B. Rohrlach, Jonathan Tuke, Luca Traverso, Paul Klostermann, Robin Koger, Ronny Friedrich, Karin Wiltschke-Schrotta, Sylvia Kirchengast, Salvatore Liccardo, Sandra Wabnitz, Tivadar Vida, Patrick J. Geary, Falko Daim, Walter Pohl, Johannes Krause and Zuzana Hofmanová, 15 January 2025, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08418-5
Funding: H2020 European Research Council, Czech Grant Agency, Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Rising-Star Program
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